A Presidential Colloquy titled “Photons, Sound Waves, and Data Bytes: Creativity at the Nexus of Science, Technology, Media and the Arts” is the first event of the EMPAC grand opening celebration on Friday, Oct. 3.

Acting as the overture to a symphony of events that follow, the colloquy will focus on the driving forces and dynamics of the present age that require interdisciplinary creativity. Three questions will carry the conversation forward: (1) What changes in the world today are driving the need for different types of leaders, creators, and innovators? (2) How are institutions  academic, business, governmental, nonprofits, entertainment, and the arts  evolving, driving, and responding to the cultural change brought about by the convergence of science, technology, media, and the arts? and (3) How does creating deliberate intellectual communities co-located in physical, immersive gathering spaces  such as EMPAC, which will bring together scientists, artists, engineers, humanists, and designers  fit into an age whose hallmarks are “virtuality” and distributed or disembodied networks?

The participants include:

The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. The 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute